Some Washington State boosters were critical of Bill Moos' hiring of Mike Leach (left). (AP)

College athletic directors are lightning rods for the ups and downs of their school's teams. As Washington State athletic director Bill Moos took heat from critical boosters and fans for his hiring of controversial head coach Mike Leach and for the team's struggles during an eight-game losing streak, he told them that things would get better. And he made a list.

Now that things are better -- the Cougars are bowl-eligible for the first time since 2003 and have given Leach an extension -- Moos reportedly is getting payback.

The Olympianreports that Moos forwarded the nastiest messages to an assistant athletic director to compile a blacklist of people who will not be allowed to purchase bowl-game tickets from Washington State.

From The Olympian:

After one fan predicted in an email that “this will go down as one of the biggest disasters in coaching history and Leach will NEVER be a head coach again,” Moos forwarded the message to a colleague, along with his own acronym: NBT, short for “no bowl tickets.”

Moos’ message was clear: If you’re not with us now, you won’t be with us when we start winning.

“I answer all of those emails, then I send them to the Cougar Athletic Fund to see what their gift history is, and what their ticket purchase history is,” Moos said via telephone on Monday as he drove back to Pullman from his ranch outside of Spokane. “Pretty amazing — about 85-90 percent of them are not members of the CAF.”

“I’ve got a no-bowl ticket file, and I want people on board and believing in what we’re doing, and trusting how we’re going about it. If they don’t want to be on the train, the train’s already pulled out of the station.”

The Pac-12's guaranteed bowl berths are overloaded with nine eligible teams hoping for one of seven slots. But Moos believes that the Cougars should get an invite to a conference-affiliated bowl such as the New Mexico Bowl or the Fight Hunger Bowl. Or Washington State could slide into a bowl spot that another conference can't fill.

Moos said the school has received more than 1,000 requests for bowl game tickets.